Fraud (Antihero Inferno Book 2) Read online

  I’d tell them everything.

  My dad’s secrets.

  Mine.

  Hell, I’d tell them all of Emily’s and Ava’s, too, just for good measure.

  Turning back to me, she places a bottle on the counter and opens hers to sip from it.

  “So,” she says, a sparkle in her eyes and an odd smile on her face. “Spill.”

  I squeak, my heart now fully in my throat dancing a staccato rhythm. What the hell does she want to know?

  It takes effort to speak. “Spill what?”

  Her laughter is charming, her unassuming nature shining through her body language and voice.

  “About Gabriel. I’ve heard the two of you have history, and I want to know all about it.”

  That’s actually worse than what I was afraid she was asking. I’d rather tell her what my dad did than go anywhere near that subject.

  “We’ve known each other since we were kids,” I answer simply, hoping like hell she doesn’t pry too much.

  Her eyes roll. “You know more than that. From what I hear, you two can’t stand each other. I was here the night you dumped him on Tanner’s lawn tied up and naked.”

  I laugh at that. Only because it was insanely funny.

  Tipping her water bottle at me, she adds, “I respect the hell out of you after that. I also think you’re stupid for fucking with him, but you’ve got balls.”

  Wait. What does she know?

  “I happen to be quite experienced in fucking with Gabriel. We’ve been messing with each other for a long time.”

  Her brows tug together at that.

  “Which is weird. He’s such a nice guy. I prefer having him around when Tanner gets into a mood. I swear he’s the only one who can calm Tanner down.”

  Okay.

  So she’s clueless.

  Nice guy, my ass.

  I go along with the misconception only because spilling Gabriel’s secret would result in my death and shallow burial.

  “Although, I understand that Gabriel shouldn’t fully be trusted,” she says. “He’s an expert liar.”

  At least she knows that much.

  “What did he do to you?” she asks, her light brown hair falling gently over her shoulders.

  Taking a breath, I unscrew the cap on my bottle and swallow a few sips. “I have no idea. He wouldn’t tell me. All I know is that my father is no longer speaking to me now, all my credit cards have been cut off and I’m penniless with no hope of escaping this mess unless Gabriel does something to fix it.”

  Her eyes widen. “Holy shit.”

  “Yeah,” I agree. “He’s not playing around this time.”

  She shakes her head. “It’s no worse than what Tanner did to me.”

  Oh, geez. This must be good.

  “And that is?”

  “I wonder how much time we have before the guys come down. This is going to be a long story.”

  Fine with that as long as it means I’m not talking, I settle back in my seat.

  “I apparently have all the time in the world. Gabriel has no intention of taking me home. Tell me everything.”

  Gabriel

  “I hear congratulations are in order. When’s the wedding? I think I’ll get you a nice gravy boat, or maybe some silver-coated salad tongs you can use to pull your head out of your ass for doing something so fucking stupid.”

  Tanner’s eyes flick to mine as soon as I walk into his home office, his feet kicked up on the desk and his chair leaned back.

  Laughing at the anger I hear in his voice, I drop my weight into a seat opposite him and cross an ankle over a knee.

  “Problem?”

  He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.

  “We’ve done a lot of shit to people for a lot of years, Gabe, but this takes the fucking cake. Is there a reason you didn’t mention it before you took off for Miami? A heads up might have been nice.”

  “Part of the reason I didn’t is because I was excited for the surprise. You’re taking it much better than expected.”

  Lips tugging into a thin line, he tosses a pen at me that I barely dodge, the damn thing like a mini missile for how angry he is.

  This is actually pretty great. I’d looked forward to his reaction as much as I do Ivy’s when she figures it out.

  “Warbucks is going to kill you. I hope you know that. Those assholes do not take kindly to being left out of the loop when one of their puppets is about to be front and center on the front page of every news and gossip site.”

  While I agree I may have taken this a bit far, it’s worked out beautifully for what I hoped to achieve.

  “Warbucks has already called several times. I’ve yet to answer.”

  “Which means they’ll be showing up here at some point. Fucking great.”

  Shrugging a shoulder, I relax against my seat.

  “He asked me to handle her. That’s what I’m doing.”

  Tanner smiles. “You are so fucking dead. I’ll start picking out your coffin now.”

  “Make it pink with sparkles, and I’ll haunt you from the grave.”

  Laughing at that, he taps a few buttons on his keyboard and scowls at whatever he’s reading.

  “You’re such a dick. I’m shocked you went that far. I know you’ve had it out for Ivy, I just didn’t realize how heavy that chip is on your shoulder. This goes above and beyond getting someone under control.”

  “Says the guy who literally tricked a woman he loves into marrying another man just so he could eventually have something over her.”

  Tanner tilts his head at that in silent agreement.

  “Good point. The pictures came out nice, though. Have you seen them?”

  “Actually, no, I haven’t.”

  Pushing up to my feet, I walk around his desk to stand behind him, laughter bursting from my lips as soon as he scrolls to the first picture that is plastered all over a well-known celebrity magazine.

  Taylor did a remarkable job creating fake images of Ivy and me together, the headline above reading Millionaire Bachelor Now Off the Market.

  The article is laid out like a grand feat of investigative reporting, when the sad truth is we handed them the information.

  “How did you fuckers even do all of this?”

  Laughing again when he scrolls down to the shot of me proposing, I answer, “It wasn’t all that difficult. Technology makes just about anything possible these days.”

  “They look real,” he comments. “But that still doesn’t explain why you would do something so fucking stupid.”

  Returning to my seat across the desk, I drop down and stretch the muscles in my neck.

  “Ivy would just keep running and dodging me if I didn’t lock her down. So, knowing how much her dad hates our families, and guessing that he’s most likely forbidden Ivy from having anything to do with us, I took a risk. Before any of this shit went to the media, a courtesy copy was sent to Governor Callahan, from the San Diego Tribune. According to that, we got engaged after he financed our extravagant vacation together. I was pretty sure that after the asshole saw the bill for all the lavish hotels she’s been staying in, he would cut her off just to spite me.”

  “Is she here?” he asks.

  “Of course. He cut off her credit cards, took away his private plane and pretty much disowned her just like I thought he would. Honestly, I can’t be blamed. She’s the one who gave me the idea when she played the helpless, spoiled daughter routine.”

  Tanner chuckles at that. “She is the spoiled daughter.”

  I don’t bother arguing or agreeing because it doesn’t need to be said.

  “But she wasn’t helpless.” I grin. “She is now.”

  Pulling his legs down from the desk, Tanner meets my stare.

  “So what’s the safety net to set her life straight again when she gives us what we want?”

  When I don’t answer, he leans back in his seat and scowls.

  “Fuck, Gabe. You didn’t set one up?”

&nb
sp; I didn’t see a need for it when my goal is to wreck her life.

  Warbucks and the rest of our fathers might be after information, but I want more than that. This is the cherry on top of the fuck you sundae, the final prank that ends the war.

  Should I feel bad?

  Probably.

  But there are no rules when it comes to just how far I’m willing to go.

  “This is beyond gauntlet shit.”

  “Of course, it is. This is a vendetta. She had it coming.”

  Tanner wears a worried expression, his eyes meeting mine with far too much concern behind them.

  “I think you’re targeting her because you can’t touch the person you really want to bring down.”

  Pursing my lips, I shrug a shoulder. “It’s more than that.”

  “Sure it is.”

  He sighs and taps a pen on the desk. Tanner is always fiddling with something in his hands when he’s agitated or thinking.

  Glancing at me again, he asks, “Does she know what you’ve done?”

  “What the fuck? Goddamn it, Gabriel! You son of a fucking bitch!”

  The timing of Ivy’s outburst downstairs couldn’t have been better.

  My lips twitch to hear the shriek, my eyes locking with Tanner’s.

  “She does now.”

  He scrubs a hand down his face, softly cursing beneath his breath.

  “I take it this means you’re not making it back to the office today?”

  My spine straightens at that. “Why? Who did you fire? Who quit? Is Lacey still an employee?”

  I swear to God this asshole can’t be trusted with anything that requires even the tiniest amount of finesse and social etiquette. It’s not that Tanner doesn’t know how people work, it’s that he doesn’t care, and he’s become far too dependent on me to fix all his foul mood fuckups.

  Since boarding the plane in Miami, I haven’t checked my phone, but I thought the two hours that Tanner spent away from the office would be safe from having to worry.

  Slipping my phone from my pocket, I tap the screen and scroll to my email app.

  There are no threatening subject lines in all caps usually sent by Lacey, or sad face snivel-nosed resignation letters from the associate attorneys thanking me for the opportunity, but expressing their regret that they are quitting.

  Everything I’ve received since I last checked is the usual correspondence and other crap having to do with our big money cases.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Tanner says innocently. “I just think you need to hide in my bathroom for the next few hours to avoid the woman currently stomping up my stairs.”

  Cocking a brow at that, I laugh.

  “Unlike you, I don’t need to hide from-“

  The door slams open behind me so hard I can hear the plaster wall crack from the impact of the doorknob.

  “Are you fucking insane? I’m going to slit your throat for this. String you up by your tiny balls and use you for a piñata. By the time I’m done mutilating your body, there will be nothing left to burn. You are so dead for this, Gabriel Dane, and I’m not sure you realize just how serious I am this time.”

  Ivy’s angry voice fills the room, practically shaking the walls around me.

  Tanner flicks a glance past me to her and then meets my stare again. “You were saying?”

  “I still don’t see the problem,” I answer calmly.

  “Probably because you’re not looking behind you. And I would duck, by the way. That looks like it might hurt.”

  My eyes round, and I turn just in time to see Ivy’s arm pulled back to launch a heavy glass ashtray at my head that she must have grabbed while storming through the living room.

  Dropping to the ground, I cover my head just as the glass hits the side of Tanner’s desk and shatters, Ivy’s voice blaring through the room again with a set of lungs that are oddly impressive.

  “This has crossed every line we ever had in our war. There are no lines anymore, Gabe. No rules. No courtesies. Nothing! When I’m done wrecking your entire world, you need to remember it was you who started this shit. Don’t get pissed off at me when I get you back for this. I’m leaving, jackass, and don’t you dare try to stop me.”

  Another object crashes against the desk before her feet march off, the sound of her retreating steps like thunder through the hall and down the stairs.

  I push up to my knees and brush the broken glass from my hair and clothes.

  Tanner’s dark green eyes stare across the desk at me. The corner of his mouth quirks up, his lips thinning from holding back his laughter.

  After a few seconds, he gains enough control of himself to speak, but still chuckles when asking, “Are you going to handle that, or let her destroy my house? I wasn’t joking about rubbing your nose in it. This should never have been brought to my place.”

  I push to my feet and brush more glass away.

  “As if I’d bring her to mine. I still flinch at the sound of chickens clucking.”

  He loses his shit at that comment, his mild case of the chuckles now a full-blown cackling laugh.

  Cursing under my breath, I leave the room in chase of a seriously pissed off woman who is probably hiding in wait with a weapon in hand hoping to beat my head in.

  Not that I can blame her. I did cross one hell of a line with what I did, but she gave me no choice in the matter. She pissed me off when she actually accomplished making me fall for her game, and then ran off before I had the chance to get even.

  The only way to deal with Ivy is to lock her in place, and cutting her off from her daddy’s resources was the best way to accomplish it.

  If she’d just stayed in town instead of leaving for a permanent vacation, I wouldn’t have been pushed to this point.

  The front door never slammed and rattled the entire front portion of the house, so I turn the corner into the living room to hunt her down, believing it’s safe to assume she went this way.

  Luca is sitting on one of the couches, her blue eyes lifting to me with disapproval behind them.

  “I cannot believe you did that to her, Gabriel. That’s something I would expect Tanner to do, or maybe one of the other guys. But you? I’m disappointed.”

  Smiling at her, I cross through the room on my way to the kitchen.

  “This is perfectly normal, beautiful. No worries. Ivy and I enjoy our fucked-up games. This is nothing but a love tap. Did she happen to run this way, by chance?”

  The kitchen door slams hard enough to swing the chandelier in the dining room, and I hurry in that direction, ready to tackle the bitch to the ground, if necessary.

  Heading outside, I expect to find Ivy somewhere in the driveway, but after searching high and low, there’s no sign of her.

  Fucking hell. Where could she possibly have gone?

  Yes, the property is massive, but I highly doubt she’d crawl under a bush or scale the side of the house to escape me.

  Then again, this is Ivy. When she’s mad, there’s no telling what she’s capable of.

  Judging by the threats she made and how loudly she made them, she’s not just mad, she’s dangerously psychopathic.

  Knowing that, I walk out to glance down the street, the neighborhood quiet for the most part, only a lawn crew working a few houses down and a delivery truck in the opposite direction.

  I turn back to the house and lift my gaze up to the roof, just in case she’s up there with something heavy to drop on my head.

  A honking horn grabs my attention a second later, my body spinning in place in time to see Emily’s car pull to a quick stop and Ivy come running out from behind a neighbor’s large hedge, barefoot with her heels in hand.

  I’m not surprised to see Ivy’s fire-crotched sidekick coming to the rescue.

  She climbs into the car before I can take the first step in pursuit, not that I’d tackle her in front of witnesses.

  Flipping me the finger, Ivy narrows her eyes on me just before the car takes off with screeching tires.

&nbs
p; Fuck.

  I hadn’t planned on this, but I laugh about it regardless. I should have expected nothing less.

  It’s fine, though. Prey is always more fun when you have to chase it down. And it’s not like Ivy can do much to fix this. I have safety measures in place, surprises that ensure she won’t be able to smooth this over.

  Smiling as the car turns a corner and disappears from view, I tuck my hands in my pockets and tilt my face to the grey sky above my head.

  It looks like it might rain in the next few hours.

  Let’s hope it’s not the freezing type that has the nasty habit of slicing a person to the bone.

  Ivy

  “I need you to take me to my dad’s house right now. And fast. Don’t even stop for red lights. Just slam the gas pedal down and go.”

  My voice is shaking as I tell Emily what to do, the anger I feel so strong that my teeth are grinding together, and my hands are fisting.

  Gabriel has done a lot of fucked up things to me through the years, but I never once thought he’d stoop so low and do something like this.

  “Girl, I saw the articles this morning. I tried calling you because I knew there was no way in hell they were true.”

  Emily’s long red hair partially hides her face as she races down the road. Both our bodies slide in our seats as she cuts the wheel left to take a sharp corner, the wheels of the car sliding over the cement before the engine roars to speed up again.

  “I saw your calls, but I couldn’t answer them. I was in the process of getting abducted by Gabriel.”

  I’m in tears at this point.

  How Gabriel knew to do something like this is a mystery to me. While my mother would love to see me with one of the Inferno boys because of the status of their families, my father had secretly forbidden me from having anything to do with them.

  Their families are criminals. Everybody knows it, but nobody is brave enough to do anything about it. And while my dad isn’t exactly squeaky clean, he is a lot quieter about the shit he does.

  No wonder he cut me off without bothering to call me.

  I saw the photos while scrolling through social media, saw the links to the articles and then read the bullshit lies about me.